title: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in the Netherlands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori has been declining in the developed countries, as it has the incidence of distal gastric carcinoma. Monitoring this decline and identifying populations not benefiting from this decline is a fit task for public health authorities, with blood donors an obvious source of sera.
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested 1550 randomly selected blood donors, spread over 5-10 year age cohorts, from four regions in the southern half of The Netherlands, for the presence of antibodies against H. pylori and the CagA antigen. These donors were drawn from an area comprising 46% of the native Dutch population, but did not include non-European immigrants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed an age specific decline in the mean seroprevalence of H. pylori from 48% for donors born between 1946 and 1935 to 16% for those born between 1987 and 1977. In H. pylori positive donors, the CagA seroprevalence declined from 38% to 14% in the same age cohorts. There were no significant differences between regions in either prevalence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results are compatible with a persistent age-cohort phenomenon for H. pylori prevalence, with the most pronounced decline of CagA+ strains. Nevertheless, almost one in six of the young native Dutch population remains H. pylori positive, implying that, without specific intervention, this bacterium will remain common over the coming decades.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. markvbla@xs4all.nl
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Blankenstein
authors.forename: Anneke J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Vuuren
authors.forename: Caspar W N
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Looman
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ouwendijk
authors.forename: Ernst J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kuipers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; C080866:cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori